Right to Education and the role of NGOs

Education has always been at the forefront of public discourse related to human rights. Compulsory primary and secondary education which deals with basic skills like literacy has been the topic of much debate all over the world. In a large country like India, education is attempting to take centre stage through the pointing out of the sub-par education delivered in a lot of public schools.

The Right to Education Act (RTE), came into force on April 01st, 2010. RTE makes education a fundamental right of every child between the ages of 6 and 14 and specifies minimum norms in elementary schools. This includes a 25% reservation policy based on economic status or caste. Through this policy, RTE attempts to bridge the economic gap between the different classes by putting everyone in the same classroom. Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, an NGO for the disabled in India formulates the concept of Quality Education and Inclusion. The NGO for the underprivileged children and persons with disabilities primary initiatie is Education for All.

The active involvement of the community is essential to ensure that the underprivileged children receive a high level of education is an aspect which every organization concerned with education should focus on. If a child’s knowledge is reinforced by a clear connection between their subjects, the likelihood of learning and retaining increases. Here is where NGOs for the disabled in India like Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled come to play a major role in imparting quality education to the underprivileged via their education initiative that involves free residential schooling ensuring uninterrupted completion of basic education to those from lower-middle-class or economically challenged backgrounds from the rural areas.

A large problem, especially in rural India, is that families are not aware that RTE, as a policy, exists. Due to this, a lot of children aren’t sent to school not just due to ignorance but lack of financial aid to gain the basic commute of reaching the school. NGOs like Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled thus, contribute to ensuring that RTE is properly and efficiently implemented in the education sector. While the government could undertake programmes which raise awareness about the existence and importance of RTE, the fact is that oftentimes this responsibility falls to the NGOs like Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled.

It becomes a social responsibility to support the education of not just the underprivileged but also the children with disabilities. As an NGO for the visually impaired or other disabilities, Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, an NGO in Bangalore with various centres across India strives towards ensuring that “Education for All” is not just a meager concept but fact where the Charity is concerned. And donating for any cause as noble as this is a direct step towards the betterment of the underprivileged.

To Donate to a charity helping disabled children and the underprivileged like Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, visit, www.samarthanam.org to know more about their initiatives to make a difference in the life of a disabled.